Netanyahu says Israel won’t budge on rest of Gaza deal until all hostages return

Meeting with members of the right-wing Gvura Forum, which represents families of soldiers killed in action in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no other element of US President Donald Trump’s plan for a Gaza ceasefire will move ahead until every single hostage is released.

“Until the first clause — the release of all the hostages, living and dead — until the last of the hostages, all of them, is transferred to Israeli territory, we will not move on to any other clause,” Netanyahu pledges, according to Hebrew language media.

If Hamas doesn’t release the hostages “by the end of the time set by President Trump,” he says, Israel will go back on the offensive in Gaza “with the full backing of all the countries involved.”

“Trump’s pressure is increasing,” he tells the group in the 40-minute meeting in Jerusalem. “Trump will not hesitate to wait longer than he has allotted. This time, he is determined.”

Netanyahu also pledges that the Palestinian Authority will not run the Gaza Strip after the war.

“No representative of Hamas or any representative of the PA will be involved in controlling the Strip,” he says, according to the reports.

There is no official comment from his office on the reported remarks.

The terms laid out in Trump’s 20-point plan require the PA to carry out difficult reforms before it can run Gaza again, where it faces opposition from its longtime rival Hamas.

Netanyahu also insists that Israel will be responsible for the demilitarization of Gaza.